Life in the Library

The teacher-librarian position is a unique one in Bethel. While many school districts have librarians who split time between buildings, Lisa Steudel, Teacher-Librarian at Katherine G. Johnson Elementary said our district knows the importance of the position.

“Of all the districts around us, we’re the only district that has an elementary librarian full time in each of our elementary schools,” she said.

Students are the ones who benefit from this commitment, because teacherlibrarians work alongside classroom teachers to help further our students’ education. And that’s just one of the many things that fill their days. They collaborate with teachers, extend lessons that students are doing in their own classrooms, help students with passion projects, teach digital citizenship, and manage three different inventories at each school – the library collection, school technology, and curriculum – with the help of the library clerks at each building.

Librarians also meet with their principals to share ideas and collaborate on bigger projects.

In her role, Steudel also serves as a Teacher On Special Assignment and works with district leadership to help support teacher-librarians across the district.

“We’re a big enough group that we need a leader,” she said. “Someone that can work with things behind the scenes. There’s always projects we’re working on as a group, or to go into buildings and help somebody new in the position.”